@weimers

Chinese threats against Taiwan: Time for the West to speak clearly and carry a big stick.

As co-author of the EP resolution on the situation in the Taiwan Strait, I'm pleased that there is consensus that chinese provocations against Taiwan must have consequences for EU-PRC relations.

Germany's economy minister said on Tuesday the government was working on a new trade policy with China to reduce dependence on Chinese raw materials, batteries and semiconductors, promising "no more naivety" in trade dealings with Beijing.

Robert Habeck told Reuters that China was a welcome trading partner, but Germany could not allow Beijing's protectionism to distort competition and would not hold back criticism of human rights violations under threat of losing business.
"We cannot allow ourselves to be blackmailed," he said in an interview.

Habeck said Germany must open up to new trading partners and regions as many sectors were heavily dependent on selling to China.

Berlin also wants to examine Chinese investments in Europe more critically, he said, adding Europe should not support China's Silk Road Initiative, which aims to buy up strategic infrastructure in Europe and influence trade policy.

As an example, Habeck signalled he was opposed to plans by China's Cosco to buy a stake in a container operator at Germany's Hafen Hamburg port, signalling concerns about Chinese takeover deals are spreading out from the technology arena into other industry sectors, such as logistics.

@rachel_cheung1
 
A Chinese company in Xiamen installed surveillance cameras inside toilet cubicles to monitor its staff. A viral image on Weibo showed photos it took as evidence and staff caught smoking were fired as punishment
 

@StuartKLau
 
Chinese funding for EU academia will be screened under a new Defence of Democracy package announced by EU chief Von der Leyen.
 
"We need to better shield ourselves from malign interference  We will not allow any autocracy's Trojan horses to attack our democracies from within."
 

The United States is considering options for a sanctions package against China to deter it from invading Taiwan.
Deliberations in Washington and Taipei's separate lobbying of EU envoys are a response to fears of a Chinese invasion which have grown as military tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait.
The notion of sanctions on the world's second-largest economy and one of the global supply chain's biggest links raises questions of feasibility.

@financialjuice
 
IEA: WE ARE SEEING THE BIGGEST DROP IN CHINA OIL DEMAND IN OVER THREE DECADES.

US Senate committee clears bill that would bolster US ties to Taiwan
Taiwan Policy Act is considered ‘most comprehensive restructuring of US policy towards Taiwan’ since 1979
If approved by Senate, a House version must win passage before a combined bill reaches US President Joe Biden for signing into law

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not immediately release an updated text of the bill that passed out of the closed-door meeting on Wednesday. Politico reported the committee’s approval vote at 17-5.

An earlier draft of the bill included billions of dollars in funding for Taiwan’s military; sanctions against China’s entire top political leadership and biggest banks if Beijing invades the island; and a new designation for Taipei as a “major non-Nato ally” of the US, a title held by Israel, Japan and South Korea, among other nations.
The earlier draft of the bill would also change the name of Taipei’s de facto embassy in Washington to the “Taiwan Representative Office” and would allow Taiwanese officials to display their government’s emblems and symbols – including the Republic of China flag – in meetings with Americans.

And it would expedite weapons sales to Taiwan while also boosting US military cooperation with the island.
“Today’s strong, bipartisan vote not only signals our unwavering support for the Taiwanese people, but our recognition of the pivotal role that the United States Congress must play in confronting these challenges,” said Senator Bob Menendez, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee and an author of the bill.

In a change, the new Taiwan Policy Act would widen that to include “arms conducive to deterring acts of aggression by the People’s Liberation Army”. It would also require the Pentagon to create a new “comprehensive training programme” with Taiwan.

Une première aide militaire directe de Washington à Taïwan franchit une étape clé au Congrès

Xi Jinping et Vladimir Poutine devraient se rencontrer lors du sommet de l’Organisation de sécurité de Shanghai, qui se tient dans la vieille cité d’Asie centrale, en Ouzbékistan. Ce sommet centré sur la sécurité et la coopération économique sera l’occasion pour la Chine de relancer ses alliances avec ses voisins, écrit un chercheur établi à Singapour.

[...]

Crainte d’une contagion terroriste
Dans un ouvrage récent intitulé Sinostan, Raffaello Pantucci, spécialiste des questions de sécurité en Asie centrale, souligne que la Chine redoute que des rebelles ouïgours tirent parti de la situation en Afghanistan pour créer de l’instabilité au Xinjiang. À cette inquiétude déjà ancienne [de plus de deux décennies] s’ajoute la crainte croissante que d’autres adversaires de Pékin ne cherchent à utiliser l’Afghanistan comme base pour viser la Chine ou ses intérêts, de l’Asie centrale à l’Asie du Sud. Ces ennemis rassemblent toujours plus de groupes armés dans la région, tels l’État islamique au Khorasan (Afghanistan et Pakistan), le Parti islamique du Turkestan [ouïgour] dans la région de Badakhshan (nord-est de l’Afghanistan) et le mouvement Tehrik-e-Taliban au Pakistan.